Day Trip: The Annex

One of the best things about having family come from out of town is that you have an extra excuse to go out.

My mom and brother are in Toronto for the week. When my mom went off for day trip, my brother and I were left to entertain ourselves. I took that as an opportunity to take my him to one of my favourite areas around the university: The Annex.

Our first stop was food. One of the staple foods of Eastern Canada is poutine. So when my brother insisted, weeks before he arrived in Toronto, that he simply must have poutine, I took him to a place that does it with its own flair - Smoke's Poutinerie.

The gooey mess picture above is Smoke's Pulled Pork Poutine. My brother and I bought a large to share - I swear that thing weighed three pounds. Definitely not something my mom would want us to eat.

Next, we visited DavidsTea. If you've never been there before, it's this marvelous tea shop that has all the teas you can possibly want on one wall. Perfect after a very heavy meal.

Sadly, our Annex adventures ended there because the heat was unbearable 🙁

What are some of your must-go places to see/vist in the Annex? Here's a list of mine:

• BMV Bookstore One of the nicest bookstores close to campus. It's independently owned. They buy and sell used books too! I like to go through the used book carts on the sidewalk. I once got a book for 50 cents. It's better than the dollar store.
• Sakura Japanese Food (All you can eat lunch!) I've mentioned Sakura before - It's the best all you can eat sushi place that is close to campus! Seriously, for $12.99+tax you stuff yourself with sushi goodness. If you like beef short ribs, well... they make some of the best I've ever had.
• New Generations Sushi You might have heard someone on campus mention New Gen. My roommate would bring up the name for months before we finally went. The lunch menu is pretty good. For about $7+tax you can get a pretty satiating meal. It's not all you can eat, but really, there's only so much sushi a person can eat, right? Um no. 
• Honest Ed's When I laid eyes on Honest Ed's in my first year, I thought it was this permanent circus arena. I mean, look at it! It's crazy! The lights! The signs! The clowns! Okay, maybe no clowns. While I can't say this is my favourite place in the Annex (it still freaks me out a bit), it is definitely a must-see. It's part of the Toronto experience. I can honestly say (perhaps as honest as Ed himself) that you haven't been to the Annex if you've never been inside Honest Ed's.